In case you were wondering what people in abroad are thinking about President Duterte..

Here is a typical newspaper article, dated from January 12th 2017, translated from german into english. There are many articles in german newspapers, all similar to this..

This is are the key sentence:

- Duterte is gradually undermining democracy
- Duterte personally called on everyone that those who are dealing with drugs are to be "slaughtered"
- In the Philippines it is okay to kill someone because nothing happens anyway
- Duterte says openly that lawyers who defend drug criminals in court deserved their death
- Duterte says: "There must be a reason" when journalists or human rights activists are murdered

This is what the average german knows
about Duterte from the newspapers:

- Duterte called Obama a "Son of a bitch"
- Duterte called the Pope a "Son of a bitch"
- Duterte pushes criminals out of helicopters
- Duterte is a friend of Russia (Putin)
- Duterte is a dictator

This is the news article:

DUTERTE IS MORE POWERFULL

THAN MARCOS

Up to 60 people per day are murdered in the President's Drug War. Human rights activists describe how Duterte is gradually undermining democracy.

On the dead body on the pavement is a cardboard box: "I am a drugdealer" stands on it. This is the case for the Philippine police. "We're investigating" they say. But de facto the sign signals: This murder does not have to be further investigated. After all the President personally called on everyone that those who are dealing with drugs are to be "slaughtered".

For six months now, Rodrigo Dutete has been the head of the Philippines, leading his "drug war". The man who compares himself with Hitler has made unpunished murders a normal course of life in the Southeast Asian state: 6259 people have been killed according to the police so far - often shot in the street for all the world to see. Even children are among the victims, for Duterte "unfortunate collateral damage". So 60 government-approved murders per day - "the dark figure is much higher," says Dominik Hammann to the "press". The German works as a human rights inspector for the "International Peace Observers Network" in the Philippines. Together with the Philippine expert Niklas Reese, he is there on invitation of the Dreikönigsaktion in Vienna.

Both of them tell of "death lists," which local authorities have to make at regular request at the request of the government. On the list are presumed dealers, addicts, or even people who have consumed drugs. The officials are under enormous pressure, according to Hammann. They would have to meet established quotas, otherwise there would be a risk of disciplinary transfer or suspension. "Many become creative," says Hammann. There would be people on the list, who had nothing at all to do with drugs, but are known as troublemakers or outsiders - long-haired youths, musicians, and activists.

The fact that people without any drug background are being targeted by the death squads has been experienced personally by Reese. After an acquaintance had an argument with a local politician, the following warning had been sprayed on the wall of his house in red letters: "Here lives a drug addict, you are next." The man no longer dares to go home.

"Only" one third of the murders is due to police operations, according to Hammann, the majority of the killings goes to the account of private individuals. Often, they are plainclothes policemen, who fill their salary with contract killings.

In the Philippines, where in spite of the blood shed still 83 percent believe in Duterte, they have become accustomed to systematic murders. Little is reported in the media about the dead. For Reese, a threatening "culture of impunity" is spreading "in which it is okay to kill someone because nothing happens anyway." Duterte promotes this self-regulation because he benefits from it: the President said openly that lawyers who defend drug criminals in court deserved their death. And that "there must be a reason" when journalists or human rights activists are murdered.

CHILDREN ARE TO BE IMPRISONED

Duterte makes no secret for his sympathies for autocrats. He is a fan of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whom he buried at the heroes' cemetery. But contrary to his rolemodel, the President did not need to silence the opposition and to impose the martial law - some criticism was even quite useful for him, Reese said. "Duterte has managed to" polarize the country. Those who criticize him are immediately labeled as "yellow" (color of the oppositional liberals), ie as "elitist". They are planing an attempted coup with the help of western governments against Dutete", says Reese. "Duterte is already more powerful than Marcos."

For de facto, he had already neutralized the parliament and the judiciary. In the population, he has successfully sold himself as a "salvation", who will finally clean up all the endemic problems such as corruption and crime. Then you tend to overlook some things. The next steps in the law-and-order course are already planned: in January, the death penalty will be reinstated, then Duterte also wants to put children in jail: he wants to reduce the sentence from 15 to nine years. There is hardly any resistance. Only in the Catholic Church is the protest stirred, but so far has little reaction in the population.

"The Philippines are de jure a democracy, but de facto a dictatorship," Hammann notes. The EU should not continue to look on helplessly. One had to consider, for example, whether trade negotiations with Manila should be continued.